Development is the process of growth or change. It can refer to physical or psychological changes that occur throughout the lifespan, from infancy through old age. It can also refer to changes that take place in the economy and society of a country, like industrialization or improved educational standards. The term is also used to refer to a certain stage of life, like adolescence or middle age.
The concept of development is an essential one for international policymakers, since it has a broad range of implications. Most commonly, it is measured in terms of sustained improvements in people’s well-being. The goal is to increase the ability of a system to sustain those improvements, so that it can be considered developed.
In this sense, development is a goal that applies to countries, companies and individuals alike. As such, there are many different theories and approaches to the concept of development, some of which are more effective than others.
For example, a common way to measure a country’s level of development is by its gross national income (GNI) per capita. A developed country will have a higher GNI per capita than a developing country.
Other ways to measure a country’s level of developed include its exports and the number of jobs it has outside of agriculture. The field of development studies has a wide range of disciplines that focus on different aspects of human and social development. For example, some of the most notable developments in development theory are Piaget’s constructivist theory of cognitive development, Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning, and Erikson’s theory of life-stage developmental tasks.